Floris Arntzenius (1864-1925), A cloudy day in... Lot n° 208

Floris Arntzenius (1864-1925), A cloudy day in The Hague, signed 'fl Arntzenius' (lower left), watercolour on paper, 49x34,5 cm, Literature:-Dolf Welling, ‘Floris Arntzenius', The Hague 1992, ill. p. 117.Provenance:-With Kunsthandel Leslie Smith, Wassenaar, 1994, where acquired by the present owner. , Only Floris Arntzenius can capture the unique atmosphere of a rainy day in the streets of The Hague. Located at the coast, the ‘Hofstad’ (court city) bathes in a special silver light. This effect already fascinated the generation of painters before Arntzenius. The painters of the ‘Hague School’, also called the ‘Grijze School’, drenched their compositions in grey tones. Yet, whilst his older colleagues like Bernardus Johannes Blommers and Johan Hendrik Weissenbruch painted mainly the life of peasants or fishers in the countryside, Artzenius focused on the activity in the city. The focus on mundane life in this fast changing city makes Arntzenius a ‘modern painter’. In Arntzenius’ compositions we get an idea of the intimate character of these public spaces in The Hague around 1900. Women are shopping and gallivanting in famous streets like the ‘Spuistraat’ or ‘Wagenstraat’, while uptight businessmen are keeping their pace to be on time for their next appointment. This hustle and bustle of modern life is clearly visible in the present lot. It seems that the rain shower has just stopped and people start walking the streets again. The wet and shiny asphalt, delicately executed in watercolour, acts as a mirror reflecting the figures’ every move. The whole spectacle is shed in Arntzenius’ silvery palette, which has been rightly praised as one of the most subtle of his time. This balanced composition can be regarded as an archetype in the artist’s oeuvre, where all elements of Arntzenius’s excellent watercolour skills come together.